Tag: the regenerative structural engineer

  • Announcement: the Pattern Book for Regenerative Design

    I’m pleased to be able to share that I am working on a new book, due to be published later this spring. 

    ‘The Pattern Book for Regenerative Design – a practice guide for engineers and other humans’

    The book is for change-makers in the built who want to transform our industry into a force for good: 

    • one that creates thriving communities and ecosystems through our work; 
    • an industry that is as conscious about where we make and where we take. 
    • an industry that knows that every time we build something, we have the opportunity to shift the system.

    This is a book for people who dream about the future but who have a job in the present. Who see the potential for the systems we design and inhabit to be much better, but see a very different reality in their projects. And for those who feel the gap between the future we need and the systems we have now is too wide to span. 

    In the Regenerative Structural Engineer, James Norman set out the case for Regenerative Design. It was the first book to set out a theory base for regenerative design in the context of structural engineering, and collects together dozens of examples of brilliant examples of this theory in action. 

    If you are new to regenerative design, I’d highly recommend you start there. And even if you are familiar with the theory from other sources, it’s worth taking a look at because it provides the foundations upon which we build in this guide.

    From theory to practice.

    You’ve read about regenerative design. You are excited about its goals; or you are at least curious to find out more about how it could work. This practice guide is to help you take the next step.

    Practice is the application of theory. It is the habitual way we work. It is the patterns we repeat whether we are: 

    • Supporting individual clients
    • Building a new portfolio of work
    • Transforming a business or an institution
    • Teaching regenerative design
    • Shaping policy in the built environment, or
    • Developing our personal regenerative practice.

    Our patterns of work are made up of tools, models, processes, and ways of communicating. We stitch all of these together to create a pattern of practice that best suits the project we are working on.

    This book is to help you stitch together patterns of practice that not only helps you deliver on your projects – but also embeds regenerative thinking in your work, so that each project stacks up to creating a thriving future. 

    As I write I’ll be serialising the early content on this blog. Stay tuned.

  • What if every time we built something the world got better?

    What if every time we built something the world got better?

    It is a simple question. What if every time we built something the world got better? Not just in the places we construct but in all the places affected by our construction activities. If we could meet this apparently simple ask, then we would shift the construction industry from a paradigm of extraction and damage to a paradigm of healing and repair.

    In our groundbreaking new book, James Norman and I explore what it would take for the construction industry to make this shift and what role structural engineers have to play in this transition. In short, what it would mean to be a regenerative structural engineer?

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  • Construction as an act of healing

    Construction as an act of healing

    What if, every time we designed a building, the world got better? This post explores the transformative potential of regenerative design, a paradigm shift from construction that contributes to carbon emissions and ecosystem destruction, to one that leave people and planet in better health.

    Whereas sustainability seeks to limit damage, regenerative design aims to return human and living systems to a state of thriving within the limits of the planet’s boundaries. It’s a process akin to healing, requiring attentive listening, a holistic approach, and mindful consideration of all affected places, including the often-overlooked ‘Second Site’ of material sourcing and manufacturing. The post argues for a need to reevaluate scale and focus, suggesting that like patient care, construction should focus on individual attention and localized interventions, forming a mosaic of healing actions. This vision calls for a systemic transformation, reimagining the construction industry as a nationwide, network of specific, place-based healing processes, tailored to meet the unique needs of each environment.

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